


Do The Stars Gaze Back?

by MoonAboveEdinburgh



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater, Stardust (2007), Stardust - Neil Gaiman
Genre: Adam Parrish Loves Ronan Lynch, Adam Parrish glow up, Adam Parrish is bad at flirting, Aka classic Pynch, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Magic, Bisexual Adam Parrish, Curses, Hate to Love, M/M, Pirate Gansey, Ronan Lynch Loves Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch is magic always, Stardust AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-01 15:59:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14524140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonAboveEdinburgh/pseuds/MoonAboveEdinburgh
Summary: “I think the candle is meant to help you find him,” Persephone told him.“Find who?”“Your true love.”Stardust AU featuring Adam Parrish on a quest to bring his "true love" a star, in order to win her hand in marriage. Naturally, that star is Ronan Lynch.





	1. To Find Your True Love

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: all characters belong to the amazing Maggie Stiefvater and the universe/general plot belongs to Neil Gaiman
> 
> This is my first ever fic so bear with me! It's based more on the idea and timeline of Stardust, but I was a little liberal with my interpretation, particularly regarding Adam's family/closeness to Persephone and the whole subplot of the brothers fighting to become king.
> 
> I have the first few chapters written already, and will try to update every couple of days!

Persephone twisted the delicate silver chain around her pinky finger. She attempted to use it to tie up her white hair from where the locks kissed the ground but, as always, the chain was just short. 

That’s right. She thought to herself, not for hair, but for binding. Forlornly, she looked from where the chain was unbreakably wrapped around her pale ankle to where it kept her bound to the caravan which she now stood beside. Sometimes it was easy for Persephone to get drawn in by the chain’s magic and forget that that magic was used to keep her from freedom. 

Tonight the chain drew her in more than usual as she stood amidst the bustling night market. She always loved magic, it called to her - but even moreso tonight, as this market was in the nonmagical village of Henrietta, and the only magic to be found here was the objects that surrounded Persephone. She vaguely recalled that her captor expected her to sell these objects, but Persephone never could keep her mind in one place.

At that moment, her captor tugged harshly on the chain to capture Persephone’s attention.

“I’m going to get a drink,” Piper Greenmantle huffed, seemingly annoyed at Persephone’s very presence, as usual, “Make sure you sell all this stuff. Or don’t. Whatever. These idiots never see magic, they’ll eat it up.” And with that Piper’s figure disappeared into the night’s crowd. 

As Persephone watched her leave, her attention was caught by a small boy standing away, under the shadow of an old oak tree. He leaned against the edge of the wall that separated the village from beyond, from Cabeswater, Persephone’s home, and a land of magic. Persephone could see the longing in the young boy’s eyes, as his mind drifted beyond the mindless chatter and bustling crowds of the world of Henrietta. 

Underfed, Persephone thought, looking at his boney body that made him look years younger than he likely was.

Underloved, she thought, looking at the aching in his blue eyes as he gazed out at the world beyond this village.

“IDIOT BOY!” A large man appeared beside the boy, the scent of whiskey on his breathe clear even from where Persephone stood. The man grabbed the young boy by the scruff of his neck, throwing him bodily to the ground. “Get up, boy. Quit mooning.” The boy obeyed, scrambling to his feet, his eyes downcast. 

Does he not realize that the boy is magic? For years she had been kept a captive, away from her magical home, yet still Persephone could not understand how easily these people overlooked the magic that was right before them.

Scoffing once more at his son, the man headed back into the crowd, following in the steps of Piper, back towards the bar. 

With a final longing gaze beyond the wall, the young boy began to walk back into the market. 

“Excuse me,” Persephone whispered as the boy passed. He turned, fixing his blue eyes on her. As he gazed at her, the caravan, and the chain that bound her, his eyes widened. Smiling gently, Persephone waved the child closer. As he approached, she reached deep into the yellow caravan and felt around until her hand touched what she was looking for. 

She kneeled down before him and held out the large black candle. 

“I believe that this is yours.” But the boy just continued to gaze in wonder at Persephone.

“No, ma’am, I’m sorry, but that-that’s not mine. I have no money to give you for it.” He had a strong accent, which Persephone’s distantly decided she liked.

“No money. It’s already yours, or it will be. Or rather has been.” She lifted his small hand and wrapped it around the candle. “Time is not a line.” The boy held the candle close to his chest as though it’s black was that of a baby raven.

“I think the candle is meant to help you find him,” Persephone told him.

“Find who?”

“Your true love.”


	2. The Story of How Adam Parrish Became a Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There once was a young man who wished to gain his heart's desire...

TEN YEARS LATER

“Victoria!”

Adam stared up at the latched window above him, brick and ivy between himself on the ground and his true love. The window did not budge. Adam Parrish was painfully shy, which, as is often the manner of the painfully shy, he overcompensated for by being too loud at the wrong times. “Victoria!"

Finally, the window swung open and an angelic face, haloed in golden hair, leaned out. “Tad?” Victoria called, her eyes falling from the stars above to the ground where Adam stood, alone.

“Oh,” Victoria’s smile fell, replaced by a look that was equal parts annoyed and dismissing, “Hi, Adam. Did I leave something at the shop?”

“N-no! I just thought I’d bring y —” Adam was interrupted by the spontaneous explosion of the white roses he clutched, intended as a gift for the woman above him. Or rather, he was interrupted by a walking stick beheading his flowers. There goes 2 pounds, half a day’s work.

Adam turned to see the abusing walking stick gripped in the hands of Tad Carruthers. Of course.

“Adam Parrish? Shopboy by day, peeping tom by night?” Tad scoffed, sizing Adam up and clearly finding him lacking. Adam was suddenly very aware of the dirt on his clothes from a day spent manning shop at Boyd’s, contrasting Tad’s stark white suit jacket. He was aware of how his hair was too like dust, how his bones were too prominent in his face — how Tad’s hair was the same gold as Victoria’s, how money and nourishment kept Tad’s bones on the inside, where they belonged.

“Are those for Victoria?” Tad toed at the roses which were now browned and buried in the dirt. He chuckled to himself. Adam felt his temper rise at being treated, again, as lesser than, because Henrietta was full of boys like Tad, who glided by on their parents’ money. 

I’ll show him Adam Parrish is not one to be toyed with. That Adam Parrish is worthy of a crush, worthy of Victoria. 

Adam grabbed a long stick from the bushes beneath Victoria’s window, and brandished it like a sword, pointed right at Tad. Before he could even think to strike properly, Tad had used his walking stick to disarm Adam and smack him behind the knees. Adam hit the dirt, hard. Brilliant, Parrish, he thought to himself, getting knocked on your ass is the way to win Victoria over. 

“You never were good at fencing at Aglionby, Parrish. In fact, I can’t remember anything you were good at,” Tad loomed above him, smirking. 

“Oh, Tad, leave him alone. He’s just a boy,” Victoria called softly from above him. Adam could hear the slight smile in her voice and it made him hate himself. With a final bemused look down at Adam, and a bow towards Victoria’s windows, Tad strutted back into the night. 

Adam pushed himself to his feet, already sore. Victoria was still perched on her windowsill, her head propped in her hands, gazing up at the star-filled sky. With Tad gone it seemed she had slipped back into boredom. “He’s amazing, isn’t he?” Victoria didn’t seem to be speaking to Adam, but he held his breathe, praying that she was speaking of him.

She finally seemed to notice the shop boy still standing beneath her window. She gazed down at Adam, the disdainful look returned to her face. “Tad, I mean.” 

Adam felt his heart fall to the dirt beneath his tired feet. 

“He’s going to Ipswich to buy me a ring, you know.” Victoria fawned, as if a trip ten miles away from their tiny village was the ultimate sign of romance.

“Ipswich?!” Adam cried, “Victoria, I’m going to go so much further than Ipswich. I’m going to go to London, to Paris, to Cabeswater! I won’t be trapped here in Henrietta forever!” Adam paused, his initial temper dipping as he finally took in Victoria’s words. “A ring? You’re not going to marry Tad?”

Still gazing upward, Victoria sighed, annoyed. “He’s going to Ipswich, Adam.” She seemed to find that explanation enough. 

Adam followed his love’s gaze up to the inky darkness above them, broken up only by the countless silver stars. As he always did, Adam was quick to spot the brightest star in the sky. Desperate to win her heart, win her hand, Adam cried, “Victoria, for you I would take a star out of the sky if it meant you would marry me.”

It seems Adam had finally, finally caught Victoria’s attention as she dropped her gaze down to him. One would say that she smirked, but through Adam’s love-clouded gaze it was an angel’s smile.

“Okay, Adam. If you get me a star, I’ll let you marry me.” Despite the dirt on his feet, on his clothes, in the color of his skin and hair, Adam Parrish finally felt that he was worth something. To have the hand of a woman like Victoria would finally show everyone, as well as himself, that Adam Parrish was worthy.

“But do it in a week’s time. I don’t like waiting.” She added, already impatient, before closing and latching the window, disappearing into the warmth of her room. 

In the shadows beneath her window, Adam was glowing. As if to confirm the newly lit flame inside him, something in Adam’s chest began to burn, warm. He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket, extracting the black candle he had kept stowed away, hidden from his father, since he was eight years old. It had never done anything in all those years, but its sudden, inexplicable warmth confirmed to Adam that he was right to bring it tonight, the night that he would win over his true love, Victoria. 

He did not know what the candle did, or how it would help him get past the impassable wall, let alone get a star. But as he fled through the night, headed for the gate between Henrietta and the magical village of Cabeswater, Adam Parrish could swear the night stars were shining brighter, guiding him on his journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise, the next chapter will finally have some actual Pynch interaction!


	3. Over the Wall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A star falls from the sky...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adam and Ronan finally meet!

“Tonight? A star is meant to fall tonight?” Blue Sargent looked at her mother, unable to believe her eyes. Maura nodded, clearly excited.

“That’s right, kid.” Calla grinned, “I guess the energy of having you back with us, and the power of three, even if it’s not the right three, was enough to summon a star right out of the sky.

“This is what we need, I can feel it,” Maura grazed her fingers along the cards spread out on the table between the women, where they sat within their home in the small magical village of Fox Way. “This star is going to be the thing that finally leads us back to Persephone.”

Blue looked down at the table, where a tarot card with her face looked back at her. Calla and Maura were also looking at the card, then looked at eachother, silently communicating in a way that always made Blue feel a bit excluded. The women nodded.

“It’s you, Blue,” her mother said, sliding her face card across the table towards her, “you have to be the one to find this fallen star, capture it, and bring Persephone home.”

* * *

Many miles away, deep in the land of Cabeswater, a star had just landed on Earth. 

Many people think that stars are things that twinkle in the sky, or even the absurd rumor that they’re just balls of gas. Those people are wrong. A star is the purest form of magic, unconfined, uncontained. But the Earth cannot handle so much free magic, even in a place as inherently magical as Cabeswater. So when stars come here, they are given a vessel, a vessel that reflects their soul, their magic. 

And this particular star was in a rather sore vessel from having crash landed onto Earth in the middle of an open field on the outskirts of a large wood.

“Fucking shit.”

* *

Adam crossed the meadow that stood between the edge of the village and the wall with a skip in his step. He was unsurprised to find the stone exit guarded by the same old man who’s job it had been to protect the wall since long before Adam was born — they said he was there to keep people from getting into Henrietta, but Adam always suspected it really served to keep people trapped in.

“Adam Parrish,” the guard croaked, hunched over his walking stick, “I don’t suppose you intend to cross the wall, do you?” 

Adam stepped closer to the wall, to freedom. “Well, I just thought…you see, Victoria, she-“

“No one crosses the wall, you know that,” He held his walking stick up across Adam’s chest, effectively blocking him from stepping any closer. 

The man was persistent, but Adam Parrish was determined.

“No, of course, I know. Guess I better head home then,” But rather than head back towards the village, Adam lunged to the right of the man, attempting to bypass him entirely, and give himself enough time to hop over the wall. 

He barely had one foot on the stone, before the old man spun around, smacking Adam upside the chin with his walking stick, effectively laying the young man out on his back in the dewy grass.

God, how many times is a stupid walking stick going to stand in my way tonight? Adam thought to himself. 

Despite having the wind knocked out him entirely, Adam attempted to spring up and lunge for the wall once more, but the old man quickly pinned him down with the stick on his chest. 

Seemingly returned to the tired old man he appeared to be, the guard smiled down at Adam. “Off you go,” he removed the stick and waved Adam vaguely back towards the meadow and Henrietta just beyond it. 

Christ, who had tried to enter Henrietta before that required the hundred year old guard to be skilled in hand to hand combat? Feeling weak and beaten for the second time tonight, Adam headed back towards town.

But Victoria’s promise danced in his mind and her words kept his drive going. Okay, time to try the candle.

* * *

In the shade of the trees on the outskirts of town, Adam pulled the black candle from the lining of his coat. The candle was given to him with no information, no instructions, which had itched at Adam’s logical mind in all the time he’d had it. But the candle was supposed to help him find his love, and there was a small note attached where a scribbled note told him to “light the candle and think of home”. While none of that was as telling as Adam would’ve preferred, if the candle was going to help him win Victoria, he would do what it said, no matter how vague it may be.

The problem was, Adam Parrish spent most of his days trying not to think of home. For him, home was a place of fists thrown, bruises, and a growling stomach. The only time he’d ever felt happy in his home was when he looked at the stars through the tiny window beside his bed each night. The stars were his home, but maybe Victoria, maybe his love, could be his home too. 

Pulling a box of matches from his pocket, Adam struck one, holding the flame just above the candle.

Think of home.

Just as the heat kissed the candle’s wick, Adam saw a falling star streak through sky. As the flame of the candle grew, consuming him in its supernatural light, Adam realized he had thought not of Victoria, but of that star.

* * *

I’m dead, Adam thought, that stupid candle killed me. God, how many beatings can I take in one day?

There was no other way to explain the throbbing pain that pulsed in his entire body. Peeling his eyes open slowly, Adam saw nothing but silver. Confused, he lifted his neck as much as his beaten body would allow, and realized that he was staring into a pair of bright silver eyes.

Shock winning out over pain, Adam lurched to his feet when he realized he was laying face down on a person, pinning them into the grass. As Adam scrambled back to make distance between himself and the other boy, the stranger slowly peeled himself into a sitting position, rubbing his shoulder and wincing. 

“Watch where you’re going next time, shithead.” As he turned those almost unnaturally silver eyes on Adam, the shop boy was able to really look at the stranger for the first time. He was dressed in a black sleeveless top and black pants, and Adam could make out what looked like black ink creeping over his shoulder, beneath a shaved head and sharp cheekbones.

The first word that came to Adam’s mind was magic. The second was danger. The third was wow.

The boy had all the handsomeness and obvious confidence of any rich Henrietta boy, but Adam would’ve know if he had every seen him before. And gazing at the unfamiliar, foggy meadow in which they stood, and the woods that seemed to radiate moonlight behind the boy’s back, Adam ventured to guess that he wasn’t in Henrietta anymore.

When the boy continued to stare at Adam, clearly pissed, he realized that he had yet to reply. But, really, how is one supposed to reply to a stranger calling them shithead?

“Don’t get in my way next time then,” In his own head, Adam Parrish had always thought of himself as defiant. But a fear of ruining his chances in Henrietta had always kept him from actually vocalizing this defiance. He may not know where he was, but he knew he wasn’t stuck in Henrietta anymore, and Adam decided he liked being able to speak his mind.

As though speaking had brought Adam back to himself, he suddenly realized that he was still clutching the candle in his hand. Or rather, he was clutching half the candle - the other half seemed to have been burned away. If the candle had brought him here, then that meant — “The star!”

Adam begin to look around his feet, falling to his knees to paw through the grass in search of the fallen star. 

He caught sight of the boy who still sat before him, rubbing out the muscles of his shoulder, where Adam had landed on him. He crouched in front of the boy, “Excuse me, but have you seen a fallen star anywhere?” Despite his earlier attitude, Adam figured if he wanted help, politeness was still his best weapon.

The other boy, apparently, did not agree.

“Are you fucking with me?” His dark eyebrows were raised and he was looking at Adam as though he were an idiot. 

“Uh, no, I’m not. Look I know it sounds strange but it must have landed here,”

“Yeah, it did. Or more specifically it was up there - ,” The boy pointed to the sky, “until some weird witchy energy bullshit yanked it out of the sky. And over there -“ he pointed a few feet behind Adam, “is where it crash landed and bruised its ass permanently. And here -“ this time he pointed to himself, “is where some dumbass landed on the star.”

Oh you have got to be kidding me. Adam didn’t know what form he expected a fallen star to take, but he definitely did not expect it to be some rich-boy looking guy with a bad attitude.

“You…you’re the star?”

The boy scoffed. “Like I said…dumbass,” He gestured to Adam. He finally pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the hand that Adam automatically offered in aid. “And could we stop talking about me like I’m an object. My name is Ronan,”

“Adam,” He responded on instinct. Brushing off his dark shirt the boy - Ronan - gave Adam one last look up and down before turning to walk away.

No, no, no. Adam could admit it was messed up to give a person as a gift, but this was his true love at stake. He gripped Ronan by the wrist, preventing him from going any further. The boy spun around, ripping his arm out of Adam’s hold, anger immediately taking up a home in those silver eyes.

Okay, not one to be touched then.

“Look, I’m sorry, I am. But I need you to come with me,”

“I need you to fuck off. I’ve got to figure out a way to get back home,” He turned to leave again, but Adam quickly followed, jogging to keep up. They may be the same height, but Ronan’s anger seemed to fuel him to move quicker. 

Adam jumped in front of Ronan, holding his hands up to block his path.

“Please, please. You see my true love, Victoria, she’ll only agree to marry me if I bring her a star. I need you to come with me.” 

“She’ll only marry you if you give her something? That’s some girl you’ve got there. True love for sure,” Adam bristled at the other boy’s sarcasm, but continued to look at him, silently pleading. Ronan held his gaze for a moment, before moving to shoulder past Adam once again. As he stepped forward his eyes left Adam’s face and caught on his hand that he still held up between them. Ronan stopped short, his eyes growing as he stared at the black candle still clutched in Adam’s grip.

“You have a Babylon candle,” He stated, still staring at the candle in question. Adam had no idea what this candle did, but from the way that Ronan was staring at the waxy stub in his hand, he could guess that the other boy wanted it. Seeing he had a bargaining chip to play, Adam pulled the candle to his chest just as Ronan reached for it.

“Yeah, I have a babbling candle,” Adam shrugged, trying for nonchalance, in hopes that Ronan would believe that Adam knew exactly what kind of magic he was working with and how much it was worth.

“A Babylon candle,” Ronan scoffed, a noise that was beginning to grate at Adam’s nerves as it was clearly condescending.

“Right, that’s what I said. A babbling candle.”

“No, a BabyLON candle.”

“That’s literally what I said.”

“No, it’s n — look, you’re an idiot. Just give me the candle.” Ronan tried for the candle again but Adam jumped back, resulting in a scuffle that ended with Adam’s empty hand pressed to Ronan’s chest, keeping him at bay.

The other boy sighed. “Look, man, I need that. A Babylon candle is the only way I can get home.” Though Adam couldn’t relate to missing his home, he could see that home was clearly a positive place for Ronan. While Adam’s heart gave a lurch of sympathy, his mind quickly won out, as it so often did for him.

Ronan might want to go home, but Adam did too. He needed to return to Henrietta, with Ronan in tow, so he could finally start living the life he wanted, with Victoria as his bride. 

“I can’t give you the candle. You need to come with me. I need to give you to Victoria,” The hand on Ronan’s chest turned to a fist gripping his shirt. Ronan quickly shoved Adam off him, not breaking eye contact.

“Yeah cause nothing says romance like the gift of a kidnapping,”

“Look, I’m not going to kidnap you, okay. Obviously I couldn’t even if I wanted to,” Adam gestured to Ronan’s well-muscled body then to his own, scrawnier one. He knew he had no hopes of physically overpowering Ronan - he couldn’t even overpower an old man, for God’s sake. “But if you come with me, and meet Victoria…when we’re done, you can have the candle.”

Adam held the candle up between them and held his breathe. Ronan looked from Adam’s face to the candle then tilted his head up to the starry sky. Watching the sad expression that flitted across the other boy’s face, Adam felt his heart reach out to him once again, but he pushed it down. No matter how much his heart may feel for this boy dumped into a world he didn’t know, he knew he cared about Victoria more.

Ronan looked back down, crossing his arms tight across his chest. “Fine. I meet this girl, then you give me the candle and fuck off.”

‘Great! Yeah..good, cool. Follow me,” Things may not be going exactly according to plan, but honestly, ever since Adam had pulled that candle out he had lost any semblance of a plan. 

He walked into the woods that seemed to be radiating moonlight from within itself, checking to make sure Ronan was following. He was. 

Adam had the star, now all he had to do was get him back to Henrietta, to Victoria, and win over his true love. But first he’d have to figure out where the hell they were. Because this forest, clearly brimming over with magic, was not Henrietta. Adam couldn’t believe the he had finally gone beyond the wall and now all he was trying to do was get back to the place he so longed to escape. But for true love, he would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My plan was to update on Tuesdays and Fridays, but this week is going to be particularly hectic at work, so I'm aiming to have the next chapter up on Saturday!


End file.
